Working For A Nuclear Free City - Businessmen & Ghosts (2007)[FLAC]
 
Music : Indie : Lossless

Review
by Ned Raggett
This Manchester-based quartet's excellent debut, in its own way, falls into the line of noted post-punk luminaries that the city has been known for over the years. Unlike the recent rash of groups that feel content to only rework the gothier monumentalism of Joy Division and its many followers, though, Working for a Nuclear Free City take more overt cues from the dance side of the city's history -- not just Section 25 and A Certain Ratio, but the full-on industrial hysteria typified by the Hacienda. After a brief atmospheric introduction, the album kicks into mesmerizing full gear with "Troubled Son," at once as thick and druggy as Happy Mondays at its most gone and as crisp and pulsing as early 808 State. On balance the album is a captivating revisioning of the dance/rock promise of the city's late-'80s sound if it followed a much different but parallel path to Oasis' rock-uber-alles approach -- in particular, the percussion is multifaceted and often dramatic in place of a stolid if powerful plod. The circular breakdown concluding "Dead Fingers Talking" and the quick, skittering full-on funk drumming on "Innocence" (an even better take on psych/funk than the Stone Roses' ultimate high point "Begging You") in particular shows this utterly welcome approach. When they do work in a more straightforward rock mode, the results can be equally gripping -- the flow and charge of "Over" is just astonishing, the best reworking of early Spiritualized's sound since that band itself. For all that, straight-up atmospherics aren't forgotten either, with numerous short pieces softly breaking the album's flow, sometimes instrumental and sometimes, as with "England," with a few quick vocal parts. "Quiet Place," meanwhile, is a contextual surprise and a half, a sweet and serene combination of softly sung vocals and electronica/shoegaze that finds its own unique place.

  http://www.allmusic.com/album/working-for-a-nuclear-free-city-r861572/review



CD1
01 - 224th Day
02 - Troubled Son
03 - Dead Fingers Talking
04 - Rocket
05 - Kingdom
06 - Sarah Dreams of Summer
07 - Apron Strings
08 - All American Taste
09 - Quiet Place
10 - So
11 - England
12 - Over
13 - Fallout
14 - Forever
15 - Stone Cold

CD2
01 - Eighty Eight
02 - Donkey
03 - Get a Fucking Haircut
04 - Innocence
05 - Home
06 - Heaven Kissing Hill
07 - The Tape
08 - Asleep At The Wheel
09 - Pretty Police State
10 - Soft Touch
11 - Pixelated Birds
12 - Je suis le vent
13 - Nancy Adam Susan
14 - The Tree